The Costs of Solar PV

In response to my recent piece on the cancellation of subsidies for solar and wind, 2GreenEnergy super-supporter Gary Tulie writes: “U.S. costs for residential solar are way higher than in other parts of the world. Much of the cost relates to permitting, regulation and inspection with thousands of local jurisdictions each having their own rules. Adopting federal regulations somewhat similar to those in the UK, where in most cases, planning permission is not required, and registered accredited installers using accredited product are trusted to install without inspection (except for occasional spot checks) could bring the installed cost of solar down to similar levels to Europe and Australia – more than offsetting the value of the tax benefits.”

Exactly. I had a funny little moment related to this a few years ago, attending one of the Renewable Energy Finance Forums. REFF is sponsored by huge law firms whose banners and logos are displayed everywhere one looks, from enormous placards to tote bags to cocktail napkins.  Now imagine that one of the speakers said, “Do you know why solar is happening in Germany at a rate several times it is here? Lawyers. Germany has **one** legal agreement for the installation of solar. Lawyers aren’t needed, because everyone simply copies and pastes the same document. Here you have these greedy law firms billing $450 per hour to move a few commas around.”

Crickets. I swear. Outside of the fact that it made me laugh out loud, you could have heard a pin drop.